The current situation and development trend of China's dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) industry in 2024, with a relatively stable market competition pattern

1) Definition and main application areas

Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is a sulfur-containing organic compounds, which is called "universal solvent". DMSO is a colorless and tasteless liquid at room temperature. It is a hygroscopic and flammable liquid with high polarity, high thermal stability and high boiling point. It is miscible with water and soluble in chloroform, benzene, methanol, ethanol and most other organic compounds. It is known as the "universal solvent". Because of its extremely low toxicity, it does not mix with alkanes and has the greatest solubility in common organic solvents. It is widely used in petrochemical industry, medicine, integrated circuits, carbon fiber, pesticides and fertilizers, organic synthesis, biology and other fields. 

2) Process method

The main production method of DMSO is through the oxidation reaction of dimethyl sulfide with oxygen and nitrogen dioxide to produce crude dimethyl sulfoxide, which is then purified to obtain the product. According to the different raw materials used to synthesize dimethyl sulfide, the production processes can be divided into dimethyl sulfate method, papermaking black liquor method, hydrogen sulfide methanol method, and carbon disulfide methanol method. At present, the carbon disulfide methanol method is mainly used in China. Under certain process conditions, carbon disulfide and methanol react with Al 2O 3 catalyst to produce dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and sulfide and other by-products. After desulfurization, alkaline washing and distillation, refined dimethyl sulfide can be obtained. The method has the advantages of short process and high methanol conversion rate. 

3) Industry Chain

The technology and safety barriers of dimethyl sulfoxide are high, and there is hardly any new production capacity in the industry. At present, nitrogen dioxide is mainly used to oxidize dimethyl sulfide and produce dimethyl sulfoxide in a liquid phase environment, and dimethyl sulfoxide is the main raw material for producing dimethyl sulfoxide. In China, hydrogen sulfide methanol is mainly used to produce methyl sulfide, which has the characteristics of short process flow, high methanol conversion rate, easy control of process indexes and excellent and stable product quality. The two thresholds for dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) technology and safe production are relatively high, mainly because its raw material is highly toxic hydrogen sulfide, which is prone to explosions during production. Up to now, all enterprises producing dimethyl sulfoxide have had explosion accidents, so it is very difficult to expand production and obtain approval from the chemical industry parks. 

4) upstream

Methanol is one of the raw materials for synthesizing dimethyl sulfoxide. Specifically, methanol can react with carbon disulfide and undergo an oxidation process to generate dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). In recent years, the overall scale of China's methanol market has shown an increasing trend, growing from 102.372 billion yuan in 2016 to 239.356 billion yuan in 2023, with a compound annual growth rate of 12.9% during this period. 

5) Market size

As an important part of the global market, the market of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) in China has developed rapidly in recent years. In the past two years, dimethyl sulfoxide has benefited from the rapid development of downstream markets, which has led to a significant increase in DMSO prices and a continuous expansion of the market size. From 2017 to 2023, the domestic market scale of dimethyl sulfoxide increased from 444 million yuan to 1.819 billion yuan, during which the compound annual growth rate was 26.5%. 

6) Output and demand

Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is an important chemical raw material, which is widely used in medicine and pesticides. In recent years, with the continuous expansion of domestic and foreign markets, the demand for dimethyl sulfoxide has been increasing. According to statistics, the production of dimethyl sulfoxide in China will be about 71500 tons in 2023, with a demand of about 48500 tons, an increase of 7.36% and 14.4% year-on-year, respectively. 

7) The competition pattern of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) industry

The industry structure is relatively stable, with Xingfa taking the leading position. Xingfa has a market share of 47%, so it has certain pricing power. At the same time, the production threshold of dimethyl sulfoxide is relatively high, and its raw material hydrogen sulfide gas is a highly toxic, flammable and explosive substance, which requires extremely high production safety, making it difficult to build new capacity in the market. 

8) Development Trends of DMSO Industry

In the aspect of intelligent production, the dimethyl sulfoxide industry is gradually introducing intelligent manufacturing technology. Through the application of advanced technologies such as intelligent equipment and the Internet of Things, the production process will be more automated and intelligent. This means that production efficiency will be significantly improved, and human errors and waste of resources will be greatly reduced. Another important feature of intelligent production is remote monitoring, which makes the production process more transparent and controllable, helping enterprises to detect problems in a timely manner and make adjustments.

Green production is an undeniable development trend of DMSO industry. With the increasingly stringent environmental laws and regulations and the improvement of consumer 'awareness of environmental protection, enterprises must pay more attention to the environmental friendliness of the production process. It will become an important direction for the development of the industry to adopt environmentally friendly production processes and raw materials and reduce pollution emissions. Green production not only helps enterprises to comply with laws and regulations, reduce environmental risks, but also enhances corporate image and wins the trust and support of consumers.

Diversified applications will be the key to the future development of DMSO industry. With the increasing application of dimethyl sulfoxide in medicine, pesticides, dyes and other fields, its market demand will continue to grow. In order to meet these needs, the industry will strengthen cooperation with other industries to jointly develop new application fields. This cross-industry cooperation will help to promote the diversified development of the dimethyl sulfoxide industry and improve the market competitiveness and risk resistance of enterprises. Meanwhile, diversified applications will also bring consumers more choices and better product experiences.